La Dee-vina Comedia

It seems to me that Salem has appeared in the media more in the last 3-4 weeks than throughout the whole of the rest of his career combined. If that's correct, I wonder why? Has the club asked him, as a senior player, to do more? Does he want to do more as he considers his post-playing future?

I assume you mean he needs some New Balance in his life. (Got to keep the sponsors happy).

I expect it has been made public now because we're far enough into the Caulfield process that there's virtually no risk that it won't proceed. (Remember the saying I've posted before about placing targets after the arrows have landed.)

I really hope you're referring to Allen Jakovich and not Mark Jackson. I'd even accept Ricky Jackson.

There clearly isn't anything suitable - meaning size, redevelopment cost, development opportunity, suitable soil (meaning it doesn't have toxic soil which many post-industrial sites would have) anywhere near the MCG. It's not like the MFC haven't been looking. The only way I could see the MFC getting land near the MCG would be if Collingwood or Richmond gave up their training facilities. And that's not going to happen.

I suspect it's nothing more than posturing in an effort to get a seat at the table. The Glen Eira council would be well aware that this sort of upgrade will bring in dollars from the MFC, AFL, State Government and possibly even the federal Government which would not otherwise be made available. In addition, there will be both short-term and long-term jobs which will help the commercial businesses in the area.

Knowing our luck, by the time this youngster reaches draft age, the AFL will have amended the father-son rule to one where teams can have priority access to "identical name" players and this Tom Green will end up at GWS. Congratulations to the whole Green clan. It's a joyous occasion for them.

This is a good post. It raises the question as to whether the "all reasonable steps" words take effect after the smotherer is airborne or in making the decision in the first place to leave the ground. It needs to be both, not just after the smotherer has left the ground or George's prophesy will come true.

You're a glass half empty kind of guy, aren't you!

It's the first game I can remember that I went to. Whether I was taken to any games before that I can't recall. And I don't remember anything from the GF itself, other than a very vague memory of Barassi handpassing the ball to a teammate (no idea who) who then handpassed it back as they were both running to the city end. I was 6 at the time.

We'll be souped up. (Sorry)

Not sure if you're referring to the team or the supporters! Or both.

I suspect the "feasibility study" will justify a decision that's already been made. As a former senior public servant used to say, place your targets after you've seen where the arrows have landed. To put it in dating parlance, you've already got the girl pregnant so now you're working out how to justify to others the need to get married.

A Saint and a Demon in one family. I think I read about this in the Bible somewhere.

Only if they change the Memorial Cairn to be for Barry Bourke and Tom Wills.

And it doesn't mean there aren't already documents signed which don't activate until all parties are on board. I could imagine that there may be a heads of agreement already in place between the club and the course owner (State government? Melbourne Racing Club?) but it can't be converted into a contract until all other necessary arrangements are in place. Those documents may well include confidentiality agreements meaning the club can't discuss the situation right now.

I think the correct word is disinflationary

What's got Jon Ralph so excited by a Carlton v Melbourne match-up that it needs two exclamation marks in parentheses? Is it just that - golly, gosh - two finalists of last season will be playing each other?

Or even defiantly. Or, perhaps, not. The thing about "state of the art" is that it's a beautifully undefinable term which can mean different things to different people. The one thing most people will agree upon, though, is that whatever it is, it only remains "state of the art" until the next state of the art facility is built. So, at any one time, there is really only ever one "state of the art" facility.

Didn't Brock McLean complain about travelling to Casey? And plenty of the St Kilda players complained about having to travel to Seaford. Having said that, both McLean and the St Kilda players may have been troubled more by other matters and just used "travel" as an excuse.

I like the optimism implied by your last sentence. It assumes the new base will be developed during the tenure of the current playing list.

Any actuaries or mathematicians on Demonland? Visualising that differential table looks a lot like the classic bell curve seen with a normal distribution to me. In which case, move on...nothing to see here.

I don't know where where our home base will be, and I don't particularly care because I'll probably never go there. What would be good, though, is to have it somewhere where it is most accessible for the club's employees, including players. Given our employees and fans can come from all parts of Melbourne, having the home base somewhere near the geographic centre of Melbourne seems sensible to me. That makes the Caulfield racecourse site an obvious front runner, given Caulfield essentially neighbours Glen Iris which for a number of years has been officially designated as Melbourne's geographic centre. As an added bonus, it has train access and is not far from the Monash Freeway. And it's got lots of available land.

Why stop there? Go back another century when it was Marvellous Melbourne and had the highest living standards in the world.

Is Yze Jr the #46?